My Light Bulb Moment

I started out as an ”Agile Project Manager”. I accepted a contract for an IT project (my first) and was told it would be run as an Agile project. I had no idea what Agile was and I was a Project Manager. I had a great track record as a PM of driving results. I googled Agile and was thrilled to learn my entire team would be in the same room, everything they were doing would be on the board and we would only have a 15 minute meeting once a day to discuss the project. Oh….how very wrong I was. Mind you the team delivered after slogging through entirely too much overtime, continuous pressure from me and the business and constant driving. Unfortunately, their work never saw the light of day – two weeks before launch, the project was pulled. What had worked for me before didn’t work this time. I heard a lot from the people on the team who knew what Agile was and I was decidedly NOT a Scrum Master. I cared, a great deal, about the people on the team and there were certain things I began to grasp but not enough to make a difference for them. Honestly, why I stayed in IT after that project is beyond me but, I did.

Following that project, the next team I had was already formed and doing well on their own. I still hadn’t had any training but, was asked to be the Scrum Master. I started reading more and asking more questions of those around me who seemed to get this whole Agile thing. I came into the team sure I would make them different and better. I came in without acknowledging or respecting their history. I asked them all kinds of questions about the work they were doing, why they were doing things the way they were doing them, pushing them a little so, in short, I didn’t really learn much and it still wasn’t clicking for me. It was not a very comfortable place to be for anyone. Then, someone had the brilliant idea to combine two teams together – mine and another – and that was when things started to get interesting. The team that joined my team DID get Agile and they were not at all OK about how I was running them. They pushed back. I went to CSM training.

Joe Little and Jeff Sutherland were teaching the course and, as I sat there, all the pieces started coming together. I understood how it was supposed to work and how I wasn’t doing anything AT ALL to make it easier. Jeff Sutherland made the point that I still true back to all the time: Protect The Team. I came back to work energized and excited. It clicked and I couldn’t wait to get going. That said, there was this HUGE team which was really two teams trying to keep their individual team identities in place and continue to be the good teams they were separately. It wasn’t working. I knew, in theory, what I was supposed to do but I didn’t know HOW to do it. They fought over desk position, norms, how stand up should be run, how planning should be run and we were all incredibly miserable. I thought I was doing the right things and protecting the team. I wasn’t.

I asked another Scrum Master for help. He came to observe a retro and, at the end of an hour, told me I couldn’t stop. I had to keep the team talking for as long as it took for them to work their issues out. The retro lasted all day. Seriously, all.day.long. Everyone was open and honest including me. There were things said which were really hard to swallow for me. I really had been trying to do the right things. They made me question everything I had ever thought about my abilities. However, after that retro there was something different. We all realized we were all trying to do the right things. There was no malice or ill intent. We trusted each other a little and we had overcome a decent amount of pain together. After that retro, I started reading, researching, asking and experimenting and the team let me. I would tell them what I wanted to try and why and I knew they would tell me when I was off track. They would tell me because they knew I was trying and I wanted to get better. They also wanted to be better. We all wanted to be the best team possible.

So, we’re all on an upswing now and someone decides to split the team back up. Yes. After ALL that pain we needed to split. I remember being in the room with several other people figuring out who would go where and they were all looking at me to make the new teams. It tore me up though. I had gotten close to everyone and they were doing so well but, I did it, and I chose the team I was going to stay with. The team was named BOB. We worked together for about a year and it was the single-most rewarding and fun time of my career. What I learned from that team in terms of trust, what empowered teams can do, what protecting a team meant and what the role of a Scrum Master really was is what has shaped me and guided me to where I am now. It is an experience I hope everyone working in Agile can have.

We were nearing performance management time and I was writing my self-appraisal. I didn’t have anything to write. I didn’t have any results. There were no “BIG WINS”. In fact, I sat there thinking I hadn’t had to do much with the team at all. I started to get truly worried about what was going to happen come end of year. With none of the usual problem-solving, risk mitigating, implementation strategizing and scheduling management-type-stuff my piece of paper looked really empty.

“Scrum Master for a team who has delivered more scope than originally requested within the same amount of time. No defects released into production. Team has created automated test harnesses to enable faster identification of defects and leverage the QS resource more effectively. Team members have learned new skills to be more efficient in their delivery approaches. The team manages themselves, including removing most impediments. The team has created a build book to be used by the platform and serve as guidelines for UI development. The team is able to respond quickly to change and is frequently sought after by the business to help shape strategy and inform intent.”

The TEAM had done great. They had knocked everything thrown their way out of the park. They were having fun and everyone wanted them. Then it hit me. They did it! They were a self-managing, self-organizing, high-performing machine. That’s what is supposed to happen.

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4 thoughts on “My Light Bulb Moment”

Hey Valerie,
I’m glad you wrote down this experience — it’s a really good read and one I can relate to. I too had a retrospective that totally submarined me. That being said, I realized I need to ask for help — reading everything, experimenting, and jumping in didn’t work. I eventually just asked the team — crazy, things started clicking. Next thing you know, the saying … “my work is done here” came to mind. In any case, great blog. Definitely a worthy share!
Thanks, Matt (agilebacon.com, @agilebaconbeer)

Cool post. I like how you expressed your experience with feelings, vulnerability, and openness. It seems that the point of inflection was the frank conversation that was very difficult at first. It was interesting to see how our initial instinct is to see the conflict as something to avoid. Staying in that conflict space long enought for the team to work through the tough was probably what brought the team together. Having to experience pain together was perhaps a bonding experience that established intimacy and trust (in a very unexpected way). This very much validates my theory that the human connection trumps any methodology or technology. Once people connect with each other, it really does not matter in my observation what tool, process, or methodology is used on the project. That team will outperform any other team, regardless of what technical or process advantage the other team employs.

So with all the emphasis on methodologies, my current belief is that “The People are the plan, the people are the technology”.